Buddha Assassinator (Fo Zhang Huang Di) (1979)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Trailer-Bloodmoon, King Of The Kickboxers, Superfights Trailer-King Of The Kickboxers II - American Shaolin
Rating
Year Of Production	1979
Running Time	81:57
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Chin Woo Tung
Studio Distributor	Fortuna Film Co. Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Hoi Mang Jang Lee Hwang
Case	Amaray-Opaque-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

    Shao Hai is a kung fu student who seems to spend more time being bullied by the Shaolin monks than learning kung fu. Uncle is a drunken former master who is an expert in the Buddhist Palm technique. He also smells, likes dog meat and sleeps wherever he likes.

    When Prince Tsoi visits the temple, Shao Hai helps to foil an assassination attempt on the Prince by the local rebels. Tsoi takes Shao Hai in, intending to use him as bait to draw out the rebels, who unknown to him include his Auntie.

    Uncle asks Shao Hai to spy on Tsoi to learn what form of kung fu he practices. When Shao Hai explains what he has seen, Uncle decides it is Lohan Fist style, which seems to be a form of sleeping kung fu (I am not making this up). Uncle convinces Shao Hai to ask the Prince to teach him the Lohan Fist, while Uncle teaches Shao Hai the Buddhist Palm, the only known antidote to Lohan Fist. Of course, this all ends in a lengthy fight between the Prince and Shao Hai.

    This is a typical 1970s kung fu film, with lots of action, some bad acting, some even worse comedy (smelly feet and the eating of dogs figure prominently) and, of course, plenty of fast zooms.

    The film features a cast of familiar faces. Meng Hoi, also known as Harrison Meng, is Shao Hai and looks like a cross between Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao. Korean taekwando expert Hwang Jang Li is Prince Tsoi. The two were paired in a successful earlier film in 1979 called Hell's Wind Staff, and Buddha Assassinator was made to cash in on the success of the earlier film.

    The martial arts in this film are actually done quite well. There is no obvious wire work, and everything is done at normal speed or slow motion, with no fast motion tricks to make the action look fiercer. At times it looks like the protagonists are practicing breakdancing moves, but there is enough physical action to satisfy most kung fu aficionados. The lowbrow comedy is less pleasing, and there were times when I wanted to press the fast-forward button to get to the next action sequence. Still, if you like to watch fighting films, there are several sequences here that would be of interest.

Video

    The film is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not enhanced for widescreen displays. At first I thought it was, with the opening sequences being squished up like an anamorphic transfer, but it turns out this was only done so that the credits are not cropped by the pan and scan transfer. After the credits, we are back to normal proportions. The original aspect ratio seems to have been 1.85:1, but for the most part the action occurs in the centre of the screen. While we do not miss much as a consequence, there is a feeling that the viewing area is constricted. Anyone who has seen any of the Region 3 Shaw Brothers films restored and in their original aspect ratios will know what a difference presenting these films in their correct proportions makes.

    The transfer is reasonably sharp though it is not a lot better than VHS quality. Shadow detail is adequate but there are no sequences where this would normally be a problem.

    There are a few instances of minor aliasing, otherwise I did not notice any film to video or compression artefacts. Film artefacts are another matter. Just about everything you can imagine is on display. The film is full of nicks, flecks, dirt, scratches, splice marks, reel change marks, hairs and so on. The film is not unwatchable but considerable allowances have to be made for the condition of the print material.

    No subtitles are provided on this single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The single audio track is a Dolby Digital 2.0 one, though I would expect that this film was originally released with a mono soundtrack.

    The audio is reasonable, with no major problems that I could detect, apart from the fact that it is dubbed into English of course. The voice actors sound like they are English or antipodeans trying to speak with American accents. This film sounds like any of hundreds of poor dubs of Hong Kong films of the era as a result. The dialogue is inane though it is fairly clear and distinct. Audio sync is atrocious as you would expect. You can clearly hear the thwack of fist or foot on flesh, or whatever it is they used in the dubbing (probably someone hitting a melon with a stick).

    The music score is terrible. Therefore it is much like other films of this genre.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Four trailers are provided, all in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Every one of these is clearer and sharper than the feature. All four films look like they are very bad indeed. The trailers are for: Bloodmoon (2:32); King of the Kickboxers (3:04); King of the Kickboxers II: American Shaolin (3:17); and Superfights (2:59).

    This film has been released a couple of times in Region 1. The first release sounds like it is the same transfer as in Region 4, albeit in NTSC format, with trailers for a few Jet Li films instead of the ones Region 4 gets. There is also a more recent release, for which I can find no reviews, called Shaolin Dolemite Collection: Buddha Assassinator. Apparently this is a version presented by blaxploitation comedy star Rudy Ray Moore. Let's call this a tie.

    A typical kung fu film of the 1970s, there is very little to recommend this unless you are a student of the genre.

    A poor video transfer.

    An average audio transfer.

    No substantial extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall